True Love Waits
by Samala90
Summary: A different SethSummer story that fills the gap between her leaving for George and their wedding. This story follows their ups and downs as a couple, and through the changes that life brings, always leading them back to each other. Better summary inside.
1. Wait For You

**True Love Waits**

**Author's Note: **Here's the first chapter of this story. This is how I plan the story to be: In the beginning, a moment from the present is tied together with a moment from the past. Each chapter will include at least one flashback, probably more, and they will in chronological order tell what happened during the college years. The present story line will probably be a little less significant, but it will be about the year leading up to their wedding. (If it doesn't make sense to you guys now, just read the first chapter, and you'll soon figure out what I mean).

The flashback in this chapter is kinda cheating since it's an exact replica of one of the scenes in the finale, but all the other flashbacks will be moments from Summer's or Seth's life during the five years from when she left for GEORGE up on till their wedding, and it will be everything from fluffy parts, dramatic parts, angst parts- basically: the ups and downs of their relationship.

I hope you guys like this chapter, and that you'll continue reading this story. If you want it to, and review, this story definitely has potential to be rather long since it's quite a few years to cover (no less than five, and there could probably be 25 chapters or more). Please tell me what you think!

**Chapter 1: Wait For You**

Sometimes, Summer Roberts would think to herself, it was difficult to remember how they had ended up where they were today. Just ten years ago, Summer hadn't even known Seth's name, and he had been a sarcastic and lonely emo-geek, while she had been Ms. Popularity- the shallow rich girl who wore designer clothes from top to toe. At 15, this was not how she would've pictured her life. What that Summer had wanted for the future was to get married to a rich and hot guy, have a big fancy wedding, to always be wearing couture, and possibly have her own fashion line- if she had to work at all, that is.

Yet, here she was at 25, and she was nowhere close to being the person her 15-year old self had expected her to be, but the Summer Roberts that was today, was a Summer Roberts she was very proud of. As the active environmentalist she was, she had spent a year at GEORGE and then gone off to Brown to read environmental law, and now she was really making a name of herself in the business. People would listen to her, they valued her opinion, they thought she was smart- and she loved that she was making a difference. She was also about to become Mrs. Seth Cohen in less than a year, something she would never have thought ten years ago.

At 15, after first just considering him the biggest dork ever, she had somehow started talking to Seth, and in the beginning they had had a love/hate kind of relationship, where he loved her and she disliked his geek ness. But ultimately his charm had gotten to her and she had fallen in love with him, and she hadn't stopped loving him since. They had definitely gone through a lot and they hadn't always been together, but the time they had spent apart had only made their love stronger, and when Seth had finally proposed (again), she had said yes without any hesitation.

"_When are you going to be home today?" _Seth asked when he was making breakfast for Summer and himself. It was, as most days, bagels and cream cheese with coffee, a habit that had stuck with him since he had moved away from home. Sometimes, he would think that he would get bored from eating bagels all the time, and he would occasionally try a new cereal brand, but he would always return to the bagels, and it was now part of his everyday routine. They definitely had their routines, but it didn't bother them because they really needed them. One of Seth's however was asking Summer when she'd get home.

Summer was constantly fighting for animal and environmental rights for a well-known organization, and her primary job was to try persuade people and politicians how important the issue really was. She was always working overtime and the pay wasn't too good, but she loved what she did and was so passionate about it. All while Seth was working really hard at a local movie magazine, and he was on the verge of receiving the chief-editor position. Since the current editor was starting his own paper in just a few months the position was open, and Seth was said to be the number one speculation of interest to take over the post. They were both so busy with their jobs that they barely had time for each other, but they were always trying to spend every available second together.

"_Um, not so late today, I just have a couple of meetings, and then the protest with GEORGE at four, so I'll probably be home around seven", _Summer answered.

"_Okay. Then I'll wait for you to get home until I eat",_ Seth nodded.

_I'll wait for you…_The words repeated in her head, reminding her of the day she had left for GEORGE. It had been one of the saddest days in her life, but it had also been one of the most incredible. Traveling across the country to see it all, and being away from her family, her friends, and most of all, Seth, had been the most difficult things she'd ever done. Still, she had no regrets. That journey had turned out to be a journey of self-discovery and had turned her into the person she was today. Being away from home for so long, Summer had to learned what it was like to really be independent, to get along with people even if you didn't always necessarily want the same things. During that year away, she had blossomed, and she had returned a woman.

She would never forget the day that she left, and the pain was instant as she remembered how difficult it had been to leave Seth.

_The past…_

It was a day of sorrow, and sadness had defiantly surrounded them as a thick mist when they had drove together in the car to the bus stop where Summer's bus from GEORGE was about to leave. The car trip had been quiet, because none of them had really known what to say. Taylor had tried to strike up some small talk for a while, but since nobody was paying that much attention to what she had to say, she had soon fell silent and she had allowed everyone to get wrapped up in their own thoughts.

For Summer, it was one of the saddest and happiest days of her life. While a big part of her was heartbroken about leaving her home, and most of all, Seth, she also felt excited. She had wanted to work with GEORGE for a long time, ever since they'd come to see her for the first time, and now it was finally about to happen. This was her destiny. Not only had the psychic lady told her, but she felt it too as the car drove up to the sight and as she saw the bus waiting for her there. It seemed the bus was already filling up, and she felt a rush of excitement as she realized that she was about to be on it in just a matter of minutes.

They all stepped out of the car and stood just a few feet away from the bus as they said their good-byes, so that the driver wouldn't leave without Summer. This was it. This was the final time she would see any of them this entire year.

"_All right, Roberts", _Ryan finally said. Summer gave a little laugh at hearing him call her Roberts, and they gave each other a warm, friendly hug. _"I'll see you."_ Ryan said as they departed. Ryan knew that this was something that Summer needed to do and he supported her all the way, but he also knew that he would really miss her. Summer had really turned into a great friend over the past years, and in some ways, she was the only person who could comprehend what he'd gone through after losing Marissa.

"_All right, Atwood", _Summer said, imitating the way he'd said her name, and she suddenly realized how much she was going to miss him. GEORGE had already warned her that her year with them would be super busy. She wouldn't have many days off at all, she was expected to work at all the holidays and all through next summer, and they barely even had time to make phone calls depending on where they were in the country. She wouldn't have almost any time to see her family or friends. It was going to be a rough year, and maybe very lonely, but she was prepared for it. This was what she wanted for herself, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"_And thank you very much for Flapjacks", _Ryan continued and brought out the tiny little bunny from his hood pocket.

"_Aaaaw", _Summer said at the sight of the white and black little thing. It was crazy how much she was going to miss her own little bunny, Pancakes. But she couldn't bring it with her on the bus, and since Seth wasn't allowed to have pets in his dorm, she had left the rabbit and her kids with Sandy and Kirsten for now, and they had promised to take good care of all of them. Julie and Kaitlin had also brought two of the baby bunnies back to their home in Newport, feeling it could be good to have animals around when Julie's son got a little older, and since Kaitlin had desperately wanted to lay hands on one of black, fluffy ones.

"_I promise I'll raise him right", _Ryan said. He had never had a pet before, but Summer had left him good instructions as the sweet crack mother she was.

"_Don't forgot to clean his cage", _Summer reminded him one last time as she patted the cute little thing, and added just to act on the side of caution: _"Which should not be used for cage fights."_

_"Got it",_ Ryan nodded.

"_Oh my gosh! I'm gonna miss you so much!" _Taylor exclaimed all of a sudden and embraced Summer.

_"Aww"_ Summer said as they hugged. It sometimes amazed her how close they'd gotten this past year, but they really had. And hugging her good-bye, Summer knew that she was going to miss all of Taylor's crazy quirks and their talks more than she had realized at first. She had really became a great friend. As they pulled apart, Sum declared: _"Well, you can follow up with my political efforts on my blog."_

"_And you can follow my personal efforts on mine", _Taylor replied smiling.

"_Eew", _Summer joked, giving the entire gang a final memory of the now classic Summer-word. Summer smiled slightly, thinking it was probably for best anyways not to know exactly what Taylor meant, but the girls both laughed a little at this and then hugged again.

"_You're the best", _Taylor said. _"You're the only girlfriend I've ever had. I'll miss you."_

"_You too", _Summer agreed, and she meant it with all her heart. Taylor had become a friend for life, and the girls had vowed to stay in touch. Since Taylor was leaving for France in just a matter of hours, the regular communication would be pretty bad, but they had their blogs, e-mail and postcards, and they had promised to see each other as often as they could.

"_All right", _Ryan said finally. It was time to let Summer and Seth say their good-byes now. _"We'll be in the car." _And with those words, Ryan and Taylor walked off to the car, Taylor blowing them one last kiss before she left.

Summer and Seth grasped hands turning to the bus, and both of them sighed barely hearable. They both knew it was coming, and neither of them was quite ready for it. Seth knew he was doing the right thing in letting her go. He remembered all too well what living together after the earthquake had done to their relationship, and Summer didn't deserve that. She needed this. She needed to live this life and do these things or she would be miserable, and therefore he had insisted that she had to go. GEORGE was her destiny too, and he knew that letting her do this was the right thing for both of them. Still, it didn't make it any less difficult.

"_I don't know…", _Seth sighed suddenly. _"Some of these GEORGE guys, they look so…idealistic."_

They had let go of each other's hands now, and Summer turned to face him and gave him a reassuring smile. _"You've got nothing to worry about._" She had met a lot of the guys form GEORGE, and apparently saving animals and nature meant having no time for personal hygiene. She also knew that no matter how hot the guys would've been, there was no one that would ever be able to take Seth's place, she would always love him. No matter what would happen to them during this time, they would find a way back to each other. They always did, because they were meant to be. To assure him of this, she said with a comforting smile: _"Just remember, this isn't good-bye. You're my destiny, Cohen."_

Seth knew this too. He had known all along, ever since he was ten years old, that this was the girl of his dreams. Now more reassured, he smiled at her. _"Go save the world, Summer Roberts," _he said, utterly convinced that it was what she was going to do.

Summer nodded and smiled. That's what she hoped to so. Moving closer again, they both leaned in and kissed immensely softly, their lips barely touching each other. They didn't need more than that, because it was a kiss that spoke so much more than words. Their love was much deeper than anything they could've said and no public displays of affection were necessary to prove their love, they had a deeper connection than that. They were each others' soul mate, and no one, not even the people that didn't know them, would ever be able to doubt their immense love after seeing that kiss.

As they departed they just stood and watched each other for a little while. Seth smiled bravely at her, and Summer turned around towards the bus, knowing it was more than time to get on it. Turning around one final time to face him, to remind him of the promise they had since long made, she said: _"See you in '08 after the New Hampshire primary."_

"_Just _go," he replied, emphasizing the 'go' part. Not having her leave was making letting he go that much harder, and he had never been a fan of long and painful good-byes anyways.

Summer got ready to get on the bus, but hesitated at the door. Should she give Seth one last kiss and one last hug? Or should she just leave? She dithered at the door for a few seconds, not being able to make a decision, but then she said: _"I'm gonna go."_

Seth just smiled at this and watched her get on the bus as the driver was finally able to close the door behind her. She walked in the half-empty bus, knowing that there were a lot of people to pick up along the way. She recognized a few faces at the seats, but most were unfamiliar and she could only hope that they were friendly. She would be with them for a whole year after all.

Grabbing a window seat, she placed her bag next to her and looked out the window to see Seth, and she gave him a sad little smile. She hated to leave him, but she knew she had no choice. This was it. This was their good-bye, and even if it wasn't forever, it was perhaps the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. She had promised herself she wouldn't cry, but she still had to fought hard to keep the tears that were burning under her eyelids from rolling down her face. After all, he was the love of her life, and she had never been away from him this long, not even during Portland or the Zach-era.

Seth returned her smile, trying to be brave, and Summer made a sad face at the thought of leaving him. She touched the window with a few of her fingers, pretending to herself that it was Seth's hand on the other side and mimicked a soundless: 'bye'. The smile and wave he gave her, was enough to let her know that it was as difficult for him too. Her point finger still lingered on the glass, she wasn't quite ready to let go just yet, and they gave each other one last smile. They were communicating soundlessly through the glass and they didn't need to put to words what they felt.

And as the bus took off at last, she just prayed to herself that this would be their very last good-bye. She wasn't so sure she that could take another. She looked back a final time where Seth was still standing watching as the bus became smaller and smaller dot, finally disappering in the horizon, and she somehow knew that he would always wait for her.

_The present…_

After finishing their bagels, Seth had to rush away to get to work on time. It was hard on their relationship that work always came in the way of them spending time together, even if today they would actually get to _see_ each other. Often, one would get home when the other was asleep, so the only time they always shared were the mornings, and they both really valued that time. Luckily, they both knew that their stressful careers were only temporary since they were both still starting off their careers, and they both hoped that it would settle down within a year, so maybe (at least that's what Summer hoped for) they could start a family. But she'd wait if she had to, if that's what Seth wanted. If life had taught her anything it was that true love waits. And she would always wait for him.


	2. Half the World Away

**Author's Note: **Sorry about the long time it took for me to update this, but I want to insure you that I have NOT forgotten about this story, I just find it a lot harder to write this way with the flashbacks and I'm not an experienced S/S writer. And also I kinda don't have any ideas for what happened so much during Summer's year at GEORGE, so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to tell me, I would very much appreciate it. I really don't want to get a writer's block for this story, so please bring me some ideas, and please review if you read the story. Thanks!  
Ps. I also have another story out called Life In Berkeley and you can check it out from my view profile if you can't find it elsewhere.

**Chapter 2: Half The World Away**

Being at work always made Seth feel a sort of fulfillment. To be able to combine most of his interests, and still have it be challenging, creative and exciting had made him really passionate about his career. He worked long hours, and the deadlines often made his work very stressful, but he wouldn't have it any other way. He absolutely loved his job.

He hadn't always known what he wanted to do for a living, and when he was younger he'd had a few interests, but hadn't known if any of them would make a career. He had always liked writing and he'd always known he was good at it, ever since his paper on why Superman is lonely had made his grade school teacher cry. Writing was so easy for him and also so difficult to get into that he'd never really given it much thought as his future job, and his other hobbies like movies, music and comics had been his main interests during high school.

It wasn't until Summer had desperately tried to get him to find something to be passionate about the year before he started at RISD that he'd realized that he had a knack to find faults in stuff, and since he loved movies, what could be better than becoming a movie critic? Even though it was his artwork that had gotten him into RISD in the first place, he had decided to major in Film/Animation/Video, figuring it would provide him with some practice for the job. He'd gotten excellent grades on all his work and he'd really evolved as an artist and had quickly learned what made good and bad in the movie business, but to provide him routine on the writing aspect of the job, he'd started working at a nearby paper in his junior year to get some routine on the writing part of the job.

After college, he'd stayed in Rhode Island working full-time at the paper, as Summer finished off her senior year of environmental law at Brown, and for Seth, writing had sort of taken over. However, as soon as Summer had graduated, they had both been eager to move back to the west coast. The truth was that both of them had missed California A LOT, and even if neither of them had been too crazy about Newport, they both did miss the warmth. Seth's skinny body just wasn't made for Rhode Islands cold winters, and Summer always felt that sunny days made her the happiest.

Seth had also missed his family more than he might have wanted to admit at first. Over his years in college, he'd missed Ryan enormous amounts and the phone calls and summertime breaks had been too little time to spend together, and he'd missed having his brother around. He also hadn't wanted to miss out on Sophie growing up, since she'd been growing in an evermore faster pace and seemed to get bigger every time he saw her. He'd even missed his parents. Yeah, scary, yet true.

He'd wanted to go to an east coast school to force his own path in life, but when he'd done that, he'd just wanted to go home. So when he'd been offered a good position as a film critic at a San Francisco local paper, he hadn't really hesitated to take it. Summer had felt it was the best for Seth, and she could do her work as a lobbyist pretty much anywhere since global warming was a problem all over the world. Since Summer had no close contact with any of her parents these days, she was thankful to have Ryan and her soon-to-be in-laws close to her, so Berkeley came to feel like home very quickly.

They'd gone searching for an apartment immediately and had found one about a mile away from Ryan's and his parents' house. They'd immediately bid on it, and Seth had fallen in love with it since they'd moved in. In Rhode Island, they'd been living in a rather small, crowded one-bedroom apartment. With only a tiny living room and an even smaller kitchen, Seth had felt very claustrophobic on occasion, but it had still beat living in his microscopic dorm where he sometimes felt he wouldn't survive the night due to lack of oxygen. Now however, the areas were airy and spacey, and it really felt like home.

It wasn't jus their apartment, though, that made Seth feel happy, it was his entire life. He was engaged to the beautiful and intelligent woman he'd called his girlfriend for nearly a decade and with a career that really suited him, he felt like the luckiest man alive. Sure, he was busy, as was Summer, and it kinda sucked that they didn't see each other that much, but they both had to live their dreams or they'd both be miserable. At least they always tried to spend every moment awake together that they had, even if it consisted of just the simplest things like eating breakfast together or falling asleep in front of the TV, but whatever it was, at least they did it together.

Seth had never been in love with another woman, and even if they sometimes (read: often) had their differences, they couldn't imagine not being together, because their love was eternal and could survive anything that would come their way. This was an important lesson they had both learned when Summer had been away for GEORGE for a year and they hardly ever saw each other. Both of them had to trust that their relationship would make it through it all and that neither of them would cheat.

He had known that he had to let her go with GEORGE. When he'd seen the flyer, he'd known that it was a sign that he had to let her go, or he would have lost her to her misery for the rest of the remaining parts of their lives. Her passion was the environment and he was so proud of her as he noticed the changes she'd helped in saving the otters and global warming. Every once in a while, there would be a story about the people behind all the protests, and Summer's name would always be mentioned as one of the key-leaders speaking about prevention of the earth. They sometimes referred to her as "the next Al Gore", and she'd already made a big name of herself, and occasionally, people on the street who recognized her from a paper would stop her and praise her for the excellent work she's been doing. Sometimes, Seth thought Summer didn't realize just quite how big she was, because she was very modest about her fame, and didn't make a lot of money at what she did, but she felt it was so worth it. And Seth knew how proud she was of herself for doing something that actually _mattered._

Seth's desk at the paper was quite a mess with papers all over the place, but it was an organized mess, and he could always find whatever document he was looking for in the crazy pile of papers, or at least that's what he would tell himself when a sting of guilt would hit him for being so lazy and messy. The only thing on his desk that had its given spot and that was always visible from where he sat, no matter how high the paper stack, was a framed picture of an article that included Summer. He had had the picture for so many years now, and it served as a reminder that their love could survive anything, and that they needed to give each other all the space they could get. He still remembered the first day he had seen the article and when he'd put it up in his dorm, filled with pride of the woman he loved.

_The Past…_

Seth looked around his new dorm as he was putting up posters there to make it feel more at home. His dorm was microscopic and it kind of made him feel claustrophobic, but it was manageable, hopefully. At least he only needed to survive a year, because next fall, Summer would start Brown again and they'd get an apartment together, and hopefully, it would be bigger than his dorm.

At least his roommate seemed rather nice. Registration was tomorrow and he'd just met Drew for the first time. Drew was a photography major who's walls were already covered with giant collages, and it already seemed to Seth that he never left his dorm without his precious camera. They hadn't really had a chance to talk and the introductions had been brief, but they seemed to have a few things in common, even if Drew had admitted being a sports fanatic, and hopefully they'd survive a year without killing each other.

Seth didn't really know what to feel about RISD yet. Besides his roommate, he hadn't really had a chance to talk to anyone since he'd just arrived, but he was fairly certain that he was going to like it here. Just walking through the halls here was very much different from pacing the corridor in Harbor. In Harbor, he'd been the odd misfit, the emo-geek who was totally into comic books, but that had somehow managed to land the gorgeous Summer Roberts as his girlfriend, probably because he had bad boy Ryan Atwood to cover his ass if anything went wrong. Before Ryan had came along, he'd had absolutely _no one_, he hadn't really had his own identity, and he'd quickly become the person to pick on among the other bratty water polo players. However, RISD was the perfect school for the freaks like him. There were art geeks everywhere, and the people simply seemed that much more open and accepting. Yeah, he could definitely like it here.

Seth was watching the wall to see if the Death Cab poster he'd just put up was straight, and luckily it was. He looked at the stuff he'd begun to fill his walls with. It was a beautiful mess of stuff that were really important to him: a picture of him, Ryan, Summer, Marissa and Taylor at graduation, another one of his family taken just a few weeks ago at Julie's almost-wedding, some drawings he'd made for Atomic County, a Yakuza poster, the Death Cab-poster, and a picture of his new baby sister: just four weeks old Sophie Rose. It was pretty much all the stuff that were significant to him, still he felt that there was something missing, and he couldn't quite figure out what it was, and it sort of bothered him. To distract himself, he saw a paper at Drew's desk that caught his attention. _"__Hey, can I borrow this?__"_Seth asked, holding up the paper, an edition of yesterday's New York Times.

"_Sure. You can do whatever you want with it, I'm done reading it anyways", _Drew answered, merely shrugging indifferently by Seth's request. Then he walked out of the room, getting ready to explore the campus, his beloved camera strapped around his neck.

Seth sat down on his new bed and looked at the front-page, and reread the little paragraph in the left bottom corner: _"__Persistent Protesters Prevent Passage of Hazardous Waste__"_Having read it on her blog a few days ago, Seth knew that Summer had been at a protest just like that, and curiosity made him turn to page 14 where the full article was to be found.

The picture of her was the first thing he saw. The black-and-white photograph showed a group of angry protesters holding up posters with angry messages on them, and blocking the way for a truck to pass. And there, in the center of the picture, the only one with a face distinct able, there she was. In a cardigan he recognized as red, a pair of big hoops dangling from her ears, and her shiny, straight hair pulled back in a ponytail, he looked at the perfect girl in the photograph and felt she looked as beautiful as ever.

He knew he had the envy from every guy in school with a girlfriend like that, but it wasn't her appearance that he loved the most about her. Obviously, it was part of the reason why he had been so attracted to her in the first place: she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, and she always would be in his eyes. But he had come to _love _Summer the girl: every little aspect of her, and now when he looked at her, he didn't see the perfect surface.

He had loved her immensely when she had been popular and shallow, but his affection towards her had only deepened for her over the years they had been together. He smiled as he looked at the picture again, noticing the big poster with the words "Stop Dumping" in her hand. Now, she was a tree-hugger, fighting to make the world a better place, and Seth admired her and he really respected her for it. He was so happy that she had found her passion, and he could merely hope that he would one day feel the same about something. Perhaps becoming a film critic was that, but only time would have to tell.

At the moment, Summer was in Texas, but she might as well have been half the world away based on the rare times they actually spoke. She had only been away for three weeks, but he missed her so much already. During that time, she had only called twice, and the times he'd tried to call her, her cell phone had been shut off or left unanswered because she didn't hear it. She did try to find some time to sit by a computer, though and update her blog, and she tried to e-mail him when ever she had the time, and sent a few text message here and there to let him know where she was and what she was doing. It wasn't much and it was going to get harder, but it was enough to get them through this, and he also knew that Summer was the only girl for him. After everything they'd been together, there really was no doubt in the back of his mind that they would make this too. He knew that no matter what, they would always find their way back to each other, because they were soul mates.

Finally, he took his eyes away from the beautiful girl in the picture and thought it time to read the article below. He skimmed through it, it basically concluding what the headline had said: that a bunch of protesters from GEORGE had managed to block the way for a truck of hazardous waste to be dumped, and there was a short information note about GEORGE as an organization and what they did. But halfway through the article, there was a comment from one of the protesters, a particular Summer Roberts…Seth read and reread:

"_A group of 30 protesters from the recently started environmentalist organization GEORGE all came together yesterday in Houston, Texas to prevent the dumping of a toxic waste, and they succeeded. One of the persistent protesters, Summer Roberts (pictured), 19 says: "I think that the work we as people can do is so much larger than we might actually think sometimes. We have a huge influence over companies and their products, and like in this case, dumping. If we, just a small group of less than 30 people could prevent this, imagine how much we could do if we all came together as a nation. There wouldn't have to be any more toxic wastes dumped in nature at all." _

The article continued with a little information about the company that they had stopped and a little about GEORGE as an organization, and at the end, there was another comment from the girl he loved, answering the question why companies decide to dump toxic wastes in nature: _"I realize it's all a matter of money and profits, but if we don't do anything now, the price to pay in the future will be that much higher."_

Seth smiled proudly at how mature and intelligent her words were, and he realized that that was the person she had become over the past years. And he loved that about her. She was truly amazing. The article summed up everything about Summer that he loved, and he suddenly realized what was missing to make his side of the dorm feel more like at home.

He went around to look for a pair of scissors, and found them lying on Drew's desk, since he had just finished a collage of some of his photographs. Working slowly, but skillfully, Seth cut out the article with precision, and then pinned it on his wall next to a few pictures of his family, and the other posters. Now, his wall was perfect. There she was, in the center of it all, just like she was the center of his life, and even half the world away, he couldn't he stop thinking about her.

_The Present…_

Ever since that day, he had kept the article. Over the past years, there had been hundreds of articles about Summer and the work she did for the environment, and even more articles that included some of her words of wisdom, and he had them all piled together in a scrapbook at home that Taylor had put together. Still, there was no other article that meant quite as much to him, because this was the first time he'd seen her name in print, and reading the article always reminded him of how much they had actually gone through, how much they'd both changed over the years, and how they could survive anything together. Therefore, he had had it framed a few years ago because it was starting to get yellow near the edges, and he didn't want it shredding.

And there it stood, at the center of his desk, so that he would never forget what she meant to him. Because even if she sometimes was half the world away with her job, she was never far away from his mind. She was the center of his world, his everything, and that was just facts.

**Author's Note: So I know there wasn't a lot of action in this chapter and no S/S interaction at all, but consider these first ones as intros, because in the next one, Summer and Seth will meet for the first time in over six months since she left for GEORGE. Hopefully, it won't take me as long to write it. ;P Now, please review!**


	3. Missing You

**Author's Note: I want to start by saying: I'M SORRY!!!! I haven't updated in forever, but if you've been checking out my profile page lately, you know why. Anyways, I'm back, and that with the next chapter of this story… and it DOES include some SS interaction, and there'll be even more of it in the following chapters (and more dialogue)! YAY! Since this is the first piece of fiction I've written for months, this chapter is a huge deal for me, so please review. I hope it was worth the long wait. Personally, I love this chapter. I got so caught up in writing it that I totally burned the potatoes I was boiling for the lunch I was planning to bring to work tomorrow. Well, well…**

**Also, this chapter is dedicated to my new friend Sharon (whitelilly0989). Thanks so much for your help and for getting me back into writing! I'm not so sure if this would've been made possible without you.**

**Chapter 3: Missing You**

Summer was rubbing her hands in her eyes, desperately trying to remember something only she had troubles figuring out what it was because she was so tired. She needed to… what was it that she needed again? Her eyelids nearly falling again, and having to pry them open with her fingers, she suddenly remembered: she needed to STAY AWAKE! Summer yawned once again, sighing at the prospect of what laid in front of her on her desk: more work. She was exhausted from working. Literally exhausted. She was completely drained from energy, and that was a big thing considering how much she always loved her work. But she had been working nonstop for what felt like an eternity and almost actually was when she considered it… For three weeks, she'd been writing the speech she was going to give the entire congress to make them focus on environmental questions with the new president election only a year away.

Seth was always busy too, working triple shifts at the paper, though he still seemed unaware of the prospect that he was most likely going to be the next editor. Summer however felt fairly confident that they would hand him the position, and she knew better than anyone how much he deserved it because of his terrific writing and not to mention work ethic. Since starting at the magazine, Seth had only called in sick once, and that was when he'd gotten tonsillitis four months ago… and he'd only relaxed for two days, then he'd started working from home, with a half amused, half upset Summer strangely fascinated by his workaholic nature, worrying and calling him a thousand times a day from work, and harassing Kirsten to bring her son chicken soup three times a day.

But Summer was to tired to think about that now…She was to tired to think about anything, yet she knew she needed to focus on work. She took a few deep breaths and decide to concentrate on the task that laid ahead of her and looked at the mountain of papers stacking up in front of her, and trying to organize the post-its on which she had written big parts of her speech on while stuck in traffic or elsewhere. She knew she had to make the speech perfect, because this was the chance of a lifetime. If she could get the politicians to listen to her, really _listen _to her, she knew she could make a difference. She knew she could make them see the importance of the issue if she just managed to perfect the speech.

She searched through the mess of her desk, yawning constantly as she did so, in the search of the last post-its that were hiding somewhere. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but she finally managed. Now all she needed to do was rewrite the speech on the computer in the correct order to try to make sense of it all. Like that was going to be easy.

She sighed once again, knowing how important this all was. So why couldn't she focus? Why did it have to be so damn difficult? No matter how hard she tried to concentrate her mind kept drifting elsewhere, to places that would in no way help her finish that speech on time. She missed being home… It sometimes felt like she lived in her office… But she had a home, and she loved it there, having spent the last couple of months since the move to Berkeley fixing it up with some excellent decorating help from Kirsten. And Julie too had helped after she and her son, Jared, had moved to Berkeley just five months ago after Julie had received her business degree, because she'd missed Kiki, little Sophie, and she'd wanted for Jared to get to know his big brother. Julie had matured a lot in the years after Marissa's death, not unlike the way Summer herself had, and she had not wanted to raise Jared in the toxic environment that was Newport, so they had finally picked up and left, and Summer was happy to say that she and Julie were very close, almost having grown a mother-daughter like bond over the years that had passed.

But now, it wasn't Julie that she was thinking of. It was Seth.

Seth. The geek that had stolen her heart, the love of her life, her husband-to-be, the only man she had ever loved… No matter what you called him, the fact remained the same: she loved him, and she missed spending time with him, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep her thoughts off of him. She was sick off working. She just wanted to go home, the home which she shared with him, and she just wanted to get in her environmentally friendly car, press the gas pedal and drive over there as fast as she could, to throw herself in his arms and kiss him passionately, and to never let go of him.

She heaved another sigh. That's what she wanted to do. But she couldn't do that. She had a job, and a very important one at that, and if she didn't finish that speech, perfecting every line of it even though writing had never really been her thing, she was definitely going to regret it tomorrow. And the day after that, and the one after that… The future of the world laid partially in her hands, and she couldn't throw it away for some _guy_. Even if it was what she wanted most in the world.

When had life gotten so complicated? When was it that she had gained this endless responsibility that she surely _loved _to have, but that she sometimes felt was getting the better part of her. Even during her time at GEORGE, when she had left college, and all of her friends, and most importantly, Seth, behind her, she hadn't felt the same guilt for not spending time with her loved ones. Because then, she hadn't been around, she had been spartanly riding across America in an almost tour-like fashion, barely having any way of getting in touch with her friends more than through the occasionally e-mail and blog update, while this time, she was a ten minutes car drive away, and she felt she spoke almost as little to them.

All of these thoughts were brooding inside of her, and she was amazed to realize that she had wasted the past two hours writing a total amount of three lines on her computer, and it was all because she missed Seth so much and somehow was unable to block him out from her mind. She couldn't remember ever having wanted to see him so badly…except right before she had seen Seth for the first time since she'd left for GEORGE. She had been sitting on that bus, her hands shaking from nervousness, anxiously anticipating her meeting with the guy she loved, a meeting she had longed for in over six months to take place. That was the feeling she had now. She closed her eyes and allowed the memory to play up in front of her…

_The past…_

Summer was nervous. Like really, really nervous. She was feeling very Seth-like in the terms of being on the verge of a breakdown. With her hands trembling and her breath was rapidly increasing out of a mix of a excitement and nervousness, she tried to calm herself down by clearing her mind, but it clearly wasn't working, because she could feel her palms getting sweatier by the second. She wasn't used to feeling this way. This wasn't who she normally was. After having spent an amazing six months on a bumpy road trip across the country she had grown confident in who she was, and she knew she could to this job forever. It was barely a job to her. Though she put a lot of energy into all of it, and yes, she missed being able to shower every day and sleeping in a comfortable bed, but the work she was doing was so rewarding that it gave even more back to her than she put into it herself. Though it had been hard to leave everyone and her old lifestyle behind, it had so been worth it. Every second, every moment of it… she wouldn't take it back for the world.

That she was set to start at Brown again this fall seemed completely surreal to her, and she had to admit that the thought was very intimidating since just being back in Rhode Island like she was now, scared the hell out of her. She was soon about to stepping outside the world she had come to feel safe in, and she was just about to enter a world that was very different from her own, a world that she had left behind along with the piece of her heart that Seth would always have.

She was so independent now and filled of such maturity that it was impossible to comprehend that just a few years ago, she had led a very shallow life with her biggest problem being what skirt to wear to yet another party. She'd been that typical dumb spoiled _bimbo_, incredibly insecure, and desperate for people to like her, she had dressed like the average slut so that guys would notice her. And of course, they had, but none of the guys she had made out with had meant anything to her, before a geeky emo kid had come along and stolen her heart. She had realized that for the first time in her life, there was a guy that cared more about her heart than her appearance, and she had fallen head over heels in love with him. And it was because of him that she was such a wreck today.

Looking down on her outfit of the day, a pair of old bleached jeans and a GEORGE T-shirt matched with a pair of worn-out sneakers, she didn't look any special. Her hair was up in a messy bun and the only make up she wore was a little mascara which she had managed to throw on during the shaky bus ride. This was who she was now in all her very plain glory. Gone was the shallow high school student, replaced with a for sure less glamorous young woman, but with a whole new confidence and maturity to go along with it. She looked a lot different, she _was _a lot different, but it wasn't that Seth wouldn't like her style that was what scared her the most about reuniting with the boyfriend she had barely gotten a chance to talk to over the past months. No, it was that she'd just missed him so much, and they only had less than 24 hours together, and she wanted every aspect of those hours to be perfect.

It was these thoughts that were making Summer tapping her fingers nervously against the book she was reading, unable to keep her mind focused on anything that wasn't Seth, and Summer was unaware of just how annoying the tapping was until one of her co-passengers had finally had enough and told her that. Blushing, Summer stopped and desperately tried to focus on the book in her lap, but her eyes kept drifting to the watch on her left arm… Shouldn't they be there already? Shouldn't they have stopped by now? The questions were burning inside of her, but before she followed her instinct to ask the driver when they were going to arrive, she felt the bus slow down to finally stop. Looking out the window, she realized that they had parked just a few hundred yards away from the RISD campus, and as soon as the bus doors flew open, Summer ran out of the bus, bringing nothing but her purse with her.

She ran, and ran, free like the wind she practically soared over the campus, running into the halls determinedly…finally stopping dead after realizing she didn't have a clue where she was going. Feeling like an idiot, she started searching for a reception or anything that could help her figure out where Seth's dorm was, when she suddenly spotted something familiar in the distance.

"_Seth!" _she called across the hallway, but the gangly dark-haired boy she was calling for didn't seem to react. The boy looked a little different from the one she used to know, but it had to be him. The unmistakable dark locks, the signature posture she had come to recognize since long, and the dark Levi's hanging on his ass-less ass matched with the classic Chuck Taylor's…it just had to be him. _"SEEEEETH!!!" _ she yelled again, this time so loudly that all the people in the hallway stopped dead and turned around to look at her. Okay, more like _stared _at her with faces expressing: "Who is this freak?", but Summer didn't care about them. She didn't care if the whole world stared at her, as long as the one person she cared about saw her.

And he did. He turned around to meet the eyes of the girl he had been in love with for so long, only to discover that it was a beautiful woman that was standing there, at the other end of the hallway smiling at him. _It's really her…_

_It's really him_. He returned her smile with a wide grin, looking genuinely thrilled to see her, and suddenly, she couldn't hold back anymore. She just ran across the hall, a run that seemed to last an eternity as she skirted past all the people that were still staring at her, but she didn't even notice them this time, because for every second she ran, was a second less spent apart from Seth. It was another second closer to the moment she had waited for during all this time. She was getting closer to him, and finally only a two feet away from, she remembered thinking: _This is the moment I've been waiting on for so long. It's finally here. _

Then, finally there, she didn't feel any hesitation or give any thoughts to what she should do, she just acted on what came naturally to her mind: she jumped him. Throwing her arms around his neck, her legs straddling his waist, she kissed him.

As their lips met, and their tongues got reacquainted with each other again, she knew she would remember this moment forever. It was a perfect moment, and in that instant, the whole world seized to exist. She kissed him over and over again, each time in a different way. Tenderly, longingly, hungrily, fervently, excitedly, eagerly, lovingly, gently, caringly… Their tongues met and tasted each other with a burning desire, and Summer held on to Seth tightly, never wanting to let him go again. _Yes, this has definitely been worth the wait_, she would remember thinking to herself as she pulled away for a second to catch her breath, then she smiled at him and giggled a little, realizing how happy she was. Then she started kissing him again, this time a lot less slower to savor every last aspect of kissing him, to make a memory of everything that was in that moment. One day, she knew she would want to recall the memory, and when she did, she wanted to be able to remember every aspect of it: every scent that was in the air, the way his hair felt between her fingers, the feeling of the small hairs on his neck standing up in enjoyment. She wanted to remember every taste of every kiss, and she wanted to remember every little detail of that moment. The moment when she gave herself away completely to him, one of all the moments where she fell in love with him once again.

It was a moment that went on an eternity, yet was over way too quickly. It wasn't a moment that would change the world, but looking back, it was a moment that did change the lives of the people that took part of that kiss. It proved that their love could survive anything and come out just as strong. It was also a moment that proved to any of the atheistic spectators what true love was, that they were watching the reunion of soul mates, because that is what they were. That is what they are. And if Summer had ever doubted that during their struggles over the years that followed, all she had to do was to remember that kiss, to recall that moment, and all her doubts would be extinguished in a second. That was how she got by if ever their relationship hit a rough-spot, and that was how she got through it on days like these, days that seemed to never end, the days she spent away from Seth.

And Summer remembered it today as clear as ever as she sat uncomfortably on her office chair, reluctantly opening her eyes, not wanting to let go of the memory. It was a tough moment to relive because it had only made her miss Seth even more and she wanted now more than ever to go home to him. But she had that stupid speech to write!

"_Damn it!" _she cursed under her breath as she reread the three lines she had written of the speech. It wasn't just that it was a _tiny _amount of words but the sentences she had written _sucked_. _Sucked!_ She really didn't have a way with words, she realized. The only time she could give great speeches were if they came completely from her heart, and the way she was perfecting every word of this crap, was making it less and less of her. She knew she couldn't stand there tomorrow giving a speech with a bunch of words in it that she would never use normally. It would make the whole thing seem stiff, and unreal, like she didn't even believe in it herself, when in fact she did. She believed in what she _wanted_ to say with all her heart. Only…she couldn't seem to put it to words on paper.

She closed her laptop. It would never work, she concluded. She would have to speak fully from her heart, expressing everything she wanted to say in the moment she would deliver it. Her words never rang truer than when she did that. The speech would have to work out anyways, without any help from The Webster's dictionary or the Word-programs Synonyms-list. She would do it on her own, and she was gonna rock it, because she simply had to.

But now, what she needed the most, was to get home to her husband-to-be. She suddenly felt a great sense of urgency to do so, because she realized that she had been without him for too long. They hadn't had a real moment together in _forever,_ not to mention how long it had been since they'd had sex and she missed it all too much.

She got into her car, finally doing what she had wanted to do all night, and pushed the speed limit as she was driving home. Barely eight minutes later, she was there, and she ran to the front door of the house that she shared with the man she loved, and though she had the keys in her hand, she pressed the doorbell over and over again for several minutes, until she could finally see a dark shadow walking towards the door with heavy steps.

With eyes that were barely open because of the exhaustion Seth was in, he opened the door. _"Summer, what are you-?"_

But before he had a chance to finish the sentence, she interrupted him with a kiss that wasn't much unlike the one they had shared together in the hallway that day. He swayed a little as she jumped him and started kissing him with all the passion that had ever been between them, as she started making another memory in her mind. She wanted to remember every aspect of this moment too, and they stood there for the longest time tasting each other until Seth finally broke the kiss apart, too tired to keep standing any longer.

"_Summer… wow!" _He tried to say, gasping for breath as he looked at the beautiful woman in front of him once again amazed how he'd ended up with someone like her. _"Not that I'm complaining… but what was that all about?"_

"_I just missed you that's all", _she replied smiling one of her flirtiest smiles and giving him a look he knew all too well as she bit her lip hopefully.

"_Oh no…I know that look", _Seth complained as she pushed him into the hallway, smiling in pretence innocence. _"But you're not getting any… I'm too tired, Sum…"_

"_Well see about that…", _she said giving him a confident smile as she led him up the stairs, towards the bedroom, finally knowing that he had given in.

**Author's Note: The next chapter will include a lot of SS fluff as Seth tours her around RISD, and there will be a little present storyline in here soon. And I PROMISE that there will be a new chapter up soooon. In less than a week hopefully, so stay tuned. Now, pleeeeease review! Do I sound desperate? 'Cause I totally am. So review!**


	4. If You Leave

**Author's Note: **So it's been a while, but now I'm back with the latest installment of this chapter, and it's really fluffy (hopefully without being too much), so if you like your SS happy, here's a great chapter for you (and my longest ever). Not much of an actual storyline so far, I know, but there will be, so be patient. As always, reviews mean everything, so if you like this story or if you don't, please leave your comments either way after reading. Thank you!

**Chapter 4: If You Leave**

"_Cohen! I have to gooooo!" _Summer complained as she was struggling to get out of her fiancés tight embrace. It wasn't that she wasn't stronger than him, because let's face it, she could kick his sorry ass any time if she was up for it, but he'd been really sweet lately, and she didn't want to go all rage-black out on him.

"_No-uh," _Seth insisted pulling her closer and kissing her neck, which made Summer laugh becaus she was always so ticklish right there.

They were lying in bed together the next morning, yet they both had to work. In just a matter of hours, Summer's flight to Washington was leaving and Seth could sense the tension in her rising.

"_Get off me!" _Summer laughed, frenetically clinging her head to her right shoulder, desperate for Seth to pull away, far from her so that he would stop tickling her.

And so he did, and as Summer's laughter finally ebbed out into silence, he rolled on to his side, resting his head in one hand to inspect her. This always made Summer feel a bit anxious he knew, but sometimes, he just couldn't resist it. He would always tell her she looked her best in the mornings to which she would always roll her eyes, and if he was really unlucky, she'd slap him on the arm. But he really wasn't lying when he said it. Of course, not that he didn't always think she was beautiful, because let's face it, she truly was, and Seth knew very well that he was the most fortunate man on earth to ever have gotten a chance with a woman like her. But there was just something about those moments; the moments of intimacy when they just laid there together as dawn crept nearer, something about the way the light fell on to her face, that just took his breath away…

Okay, so that sounded completely cheesy and was totally emasculating, and he would never ever dare telling anyone that, but it didn't make it any less true. He had been together with her for nearly ten years, and it still amazed him how he had gotten so lucky. He got to wake up every morning next to the most beautiful woman in the entire world, and he also happened to be crazily in love with her, and to him, nothing could be better than that. It didn't matter to him that they saw each other so rarely. Of course, he would've loved to spend more time with her, but he would take every opportunity he could get because there was no one else he'd rather spend time with.

"_Okay, Cohen, stop!" _Summer said suddenly, interrupting him from his daydreaming, _"That gaze of yours is seriously starting to creep me out."_

The comment brought a smile onto Seth's face, but his fiancé wasn't smiling. She was biting her lip nervously and she had a worried look in her eyes that she was trying to disguise by glancing sideways, but Seth knew her better than that. She had told him about how she hadn't been able to write the speech and now, because of it, even though she was trying to trick him into believing she was calm, Seth could tell that she was freaking out.

Taking a deep breath, he looked into her eyes as he said: _"Summer, I know you're worried about that speech, ok? And I can understand that not having a speech prepared and going into lobby in front of the entire congress unprepared seems kinda scary…"_

"_Geez, Seth, now I feel so much better," _Summer said with a roll of her eyes, her voice filled with a mixture of anticipation and sarcasm.

"…_But you're gonna do great," _Seth continued, ignoring Summer's comment. _"Because you are absolutely amazing at what you do, you are totally passionate about this, and you've always been great at convincing people to do as you please… I've seen you talk before, you know, and you are just incredible, especially when what you say comes from the heart… There's absolutely no way that they won't listen to you."_

Summer just looked at him, smiling in admiration and amazement. How was it that, even though he remained the biggest dork she had ever known, he had the power to always put her mind at ease when she was nervous or stressing out? He would always have the right things to say that would make her feel better.

"_And besides, if everything else fails…," _Seth said, this time grinning widely, _"You can always flash 'em those."_ And in one swift motion, he tried to pull the covers off of her chest.

"_Cohen!" _Summer objected half laughing as she pulled the covers closer to her naked body, her mouth open in shock and her brow wrinkled in annoyance, but her eyes sparkling all the same.

Seth laughed at this, and Summer couldn't help but to laugh along with him. Seth had always loved that laugh, because like he had told her father the first time he'd proposed to her, she had the greatest, most contagious laugh, and being the source of it, being the one to bring that smile to her face, was his favorite thing in the entire world. And for a moment, for a sweet second, neither of them thought about the departure that they both knew was coming, neither of them gave a damn about the fact that their time together was seconds away from running out.

It was the most perfect moment. The dusk still lingered, but the sun was slowly trying to break through the mist of darkness, casting shadows over Summer's stunning features. In that moment, there was only the two of them; only they existed, and the world was limited to the walls of their bedroom. It was as if time had stopped. The clock was standing still and neither of them had deadlines or obligations; nothing of importance occupied their minds, even though they should be stressing out and getting ready.

Seth could only remember once before feeling this blissfully unaware of the outside world and the limits of time, and of course, it was another moment spent with Summer…

_The past…_

As Summer was resting in his arms, Seth came to the conclusion that it was probably late. It was always late, because time always seemed to pass so quickly with her; one second it was daylight and breakfast placements, the next the dusk was falling and it was time to get back to bed. Time just didn't seem to be an issue with Summer: every moment spent with her was an eternity captured in a single second, yet it always seemed to end before it had even begun. There were no hours, deadlines or times to watch when they were together, and that's what made it so amazing, yet all the more scary. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was dimly aware of the fact that a paper laid on his desk in need to be finished, but it just didn't seem important at the moment.

His Summer was with him now. They hadn't seen each other for over 6 months! 6 goddamn long months! And yet, though they'd barely spoken more than 5 minutes at a time, there had been no awkward transitions as they'd reunited. It was as if no time had passed between them, and though she looked a little different, even though she had changed and he knew he had too, maybe there laid some truth in that statement… because it seemed that things remained unchanged between the two of them.

Or maybe that was a lie. Right before she had left, things hadn't really been great between them. The whole post-earthquake coping had been sending their relationship into a downwards spiral, where they'd spent every second together, yet without actually communicating. Where the fact that Pancakes was a she and pregnant had gone unnoticed by them, and where watching 'Briefcase or No Briefcase' had been the highlight of their days. So… things _had_ changed since the day Seth had handed her that flyer from GEORGE and had convinced her to go with them, but this time, even Seth who was skeptic and cynical by nature, had to admit that sometimes change was a good thing…

They'd spent a perfect day together. Never even letting go of her hand, he'd showed her all around the RISD campus, only stopping occasionally to say hello to his friends, which had seemed to but every single second. He hadn't even been aware of the fact that he knew so many people, but it had seemed that even people Seth barely recognized had wanted to exchange a few words with him, and be introduced to his girlfriend.

Seth had been annoyed by the constant interruptions that was cutting into the already limited time he had with his girlfriend and he had therefore tried to keep things brief, but Summer had teased him all day about his newfound 'popularity', announcing that she was way too cool to even have considered the school, and that Seth was the king of geeks. When Seth hadn't really responded with more than half a smile, Summer had turned to look at him with the most sincere eyes he'd ever seen, her voice immensely soft as she said: _"Cohen… I know that I've been mocking you all day with all this popularity-stuff, but I hope you know how happy I am for you; that you've finally found your place in the world and that you've made all these friends… I think it's great."_

Seth had just been able to nod at first, stunned into silence by words he'd never thought would come out of her mouth. Summer had never before apologized for the way she was, which was part of the reason why he'd come to like her in the first place: impulsive, and the kind of girl who always spoke what was on her mind, Seth had found himself instantly drawn to her. Her confidence and clear headedness were a few of the things he appreciated most about her, yet it was always the moments when she let her guard down, when she exposed her vulnerable side to him, that made him love her even more. With those few words, she'd showed him just how much she really cared about him, and though Seth had always known the way she felt about him (and as if that kiss in the hallway hadn't expressed that already), hearing her say that had genuinely touched him, and he'd only been able to give her a short nod and reply with a confirming: _"I know…"_

"_Good. Because maybe with all of these friends of yours around for you to talk with, maybe you won't have to come whining to me all the time,"_ she'd added playfully, her eyes sparkling mischievously, and it had made Seth laugh.

Then they'd finished off their tour of the campus after what had felt like hours (Seth had never before quite appreciated how much time it actually took to walk around all of the school grounds), ending up in Seth's dorm room on Summer's suggestion where they'd spent the rest of the day. As she'd told him, she hadn't traveled across the country on a bumpy bus without seeing him for six months to be given a tour of Providence.

"_So what do you want to do now?" _Seth had asked her casually as he'd opened the door to his dorm room to show her inside, but Summer had managed to make that pretty clear without actually answering the question.

As soon as they had crossed the threshold, Summer had attacked Seth lips with her own with such an intensity that it left him out of breath and unable to think of anything else. He'd only found enough common sense to somewhere in the back of his mind realize that the door wasn't even closed yet, and he'd therefore merely pushed the door closed with his foot, not even for a second breaking away from the girl he was completely in love with.

_It's been way too long_, he had found himself thinking as their lips and hands had familiarized themselves with each other again. It had felt so damn _good_. They were madly in love: maybe they really were mad, or maybe this was just the way true love was supposed to feel, but it would've been ridiculous to pretend anything other than that they were crazy about each other.

She'd been fervently struggling to unbutton his shirt, but had been unable to keep the smile off of her face as they'd kissed, never once even breaking contact. Finally, she'd succeeded, tossing the shirt at the floor, then pulling the T-shirt under it over his head in one swift motion as he'd continued to do the same to her until they'd both been left only in their underwear.

Then, reacting instinctively, he'd picked her up in his arms and had laid her down on the bed, with Summer underneath him for once. But as her eyes had met his again, her arms still wrapped around his neck, she had, for less than a second, looked so fragile that he'd almost been afraid to touch her. So he'd stopped to give her some space, wondering if something was wrong, but before he'd gotten the chance to ask her, she'd looked at him with her eyes conveying a passion and a longing that only the words that followed could top: _"I love you, Cohen… And I've missed this so much… us…And now this moment is finally here…"_

Then she'd smiled at him again, and he at her, and once again he'd thanked his lucky star amazed how he'd ever ended up with someone as amazing as her. And with the intense kiss that followed, Seth had stood no chance of replying to her words as they'd both lost themselves in a state of blissful paradise.

It had been amazing. Simply amazing, and once hadn't been enough… They'd done it once, twice, three times, and after the fourth time, Seth had lost count… He couldn't remember sex ever being this good, but then again, he'd never spent this much time way from his girlfriend before. There sure did come something good out of having a long distance relationships. It wasn't quite enough to make up for all the longing and not seeing her face for the past six months, but almost.

Thankfully, Seth's roommate Drew was in New York for the weekend, visiting relatives and probably taking some pictures (he was a photography major after all), so that had left Summer and Seth free to make as much noise as they'd wanted… A luxury that had hardly been possible when they'd both been living under the roof of their parents.

And now, a few hours later (?, Seth really had lost all perception of time), they were lying together in Seth's lumpy and diminutive bed with only the covers hiding their naked bodies, and Seth couldn't help but to think she looked as beautiful as ever. Her body was completely relaxed and her mind seemingly at ease, and just like him, it seemed that she had forgotten all sense of time. _"I wish we could stay like this forever…,"_ she mumbled peacefully into his chest, and Seth just smiled at her cheesy and unoriginal choice of words. Yet, even he had to admit that he agreed with them. He didn't want to let go of the moment, of everything had happened between them today, let go of everything that had been said, and of all the things that had been left unspoken, but that had meant perhaps even more…

"_I know. Me too,"_ he said finally, kissing her forehead and closing his arms more tightly around her. He kinda liked the feeling of holding her for once, being the man in their relationship.

"_Uh, stop it, Cohen, you're gonna suffocate me!" _Summer objected laughingly.

"_Sorry," _he mumbled embarrassedly as he loosened his grip on her, and she positioned her head once again on his chest.

Seth assumed she was going to close her eyes and fall asleep, but right then and there, something on his wall caught her eye.

"_Oh my god…," _she said in amazement as she pulled the covers around her body and was left staring at the news clip. _"That's me… That's the article they did on that protest against the toxic waste dumping that we managed to stop…_", she continued, recalling the event. Then she turned to look at him, her lips slightly parted in surprise,and she said with a genuinely touched voice: _"But that was ages ago, Seth. I can't believe you've saved it…"_

"_Of course I did. You didn't think I was just gonna throw it away after I was done reading it, did you?"_

Her eyes still read of surprise and astonishment, disbelieving that he would've saved something so insignificant just because there was a picture and some comments made by her in an article.

That was the moment he'd decided to show her, that was the moment he knew he'd needed for her to see it. So that maybe, just maybe, she would be able to understand what she meant to him… He found his underwear at the foot of the bed and threw on a T-shirt with it, then he jumped off the bed and started searching for something under his bed.

"_Cohen, what are you doing?" _she demanded, her forehead wrinkled in confusion as she sat up and pulled the covers closer around her body, staring at Seth. Then he'd pulled out something that had just added to her confusion even more: a shoebox. A shoebox that once held a pair of brand-new Chuck Taylor's, Summer noted, looking at the carton. _"A shoebox…???"_

"_Well, in lack of something better to put it in right now…", _Seth excused himself.

"_Oh my god…," _she said as he opened the lid, and Summer's eyes widened, and her hand shot straight to her face, covering her gaping mouth.

"_It's a scrapbook," _Seth announced.

"_I know what it is, silly…," _she said, having hoped to come up with something slightly more insulting than silly, but it wasn't as if her brain was functioning properly at the moment. Her voice trailed off and she was just left staring at the scrapbook. She was afraid to open it, to touch it, fearful that she might rip a page or that touching it might ruin the magic that seemed to exist in this moment. She hesitated, but Seth's encouraging nod made her brave enough to at last lift the book out of the ugly box and open it.

But there it was: "_Seth & Summer_", the front page read, written in Taylor's petite yet beautiful handwriting, and below that was an unfamiliar picture of them; smiling and laughing. Summer couldn't really remember when it had been taken, but she knew that it had to be from sometime after Julie's almost-wedding, and most likely taken by Taylor's camera phone when they hadn't been looking.

"_Taylor started it before she left for France, and she gave it to me after she'd made me promise that we'd continue it ourselves."_

Summer turned the page, and then another, and another… The first pages were of pictures of them taken over the past four years that they'd been together, some even with cheesy love quotes written beneath them, and Summer recognized this as being made by Taylor. The pages were beautifully decorated, and very romantic; obviously, Taylor had put a lot of thought into making it, and Summer was astounded by her best friends beautiful gesture. But it wasn't Taylor's doing that amazed her the most… It was the pages that followed.

It was everything that was part of their history: the original copy of the "I_ wish I was a mermaid_"_-_poem, the flyer from GEORGE with which Seth had insisted that she should go, some drawings of Little Miss Vixen and then of Tree Hugger- Summer, a picture of Princess Sparkle and Captain Oats (they had both agreed to give the horses to Sophie, even though it had stung in both their hearts). There were even some pictures of Summer growing up that Seth must've claimed from her dad, alongside pictures of Seth at the same age (which was a real sacrifice for him, she was sure, because she was well aware of how much he wished to erase those years). And then there was the most recent stuff: page after page of articles in which she'd featured over the past six months…

Summer was absolutely speechless when she turned to the last finished page of the book so far where a drawing was placed, and that was when she was finally completely blown away . It wasn't about the undeniable fact of how much Seth's artistic skills had improved during his time at RISD, but it was the drawing itself that took her breath away a picture. Made with an ink pen, there she was: holding hands with Seth; they were both smiling and he was wearing a tux and she a wedding gown. They were standing in a rose garden (and symbolically enough, Summer's favorite flowers just happened to be roses), and Summer also noted, in a top corner, their toy horses standing closely together in formal wear, and then there were the words, the words that finally brought her to tears; at the bottom of the page it read: "_One Day_".

The tears immediately alarmed him, and Summer not talking certainly wasn't helping much. _"That wasn't quite the reaction I had hoped for…,_" he said, worried that he had done something wrong. He'd seen her cry in school the day after her mom had left, he'd seen her cry a number of times when they had been fighting, or breaking up, he'd seen her cry after a fight with Marissa once, and she had cried so much at first when she'd found out she had died, that finally there had been no more tears left… He'd only seen her cry when something was seriously wrong and she was hurting, and therefore, it never even occurred to him that the tears in her eyes were tears of joy.

"_It's just…," _Summer choked out. _"I don't know what to say… This is just so… so much more than I would ever have expected, that I could ever even dream of…"_

"_I didn't want to make you cry…"_

"_Well what do you expect when you go and do something like this?" _Summer said, wiping away a few of the tears in the corner of her eyes. Then she closed the book, put it back in the box and placed it on the floor. _"I love you so much…"_

Then she attacked him once again with her lips… And everything else was left forgotten.

But time hadn't been erased, even though they hadn't been aware of the changes between day and night, and had tried to shut out the thought that she was only staying there for less than 24 hours, a reminder finally came of the world outside. At nine am in the morning, an alarm went off; Summer had set the time on Seth's alarm clock some time in the middle of the night. Forcing herself out of Seth's arms, she explained to him: _"I'm gonna take the longest shower of my life. I've barely been able to wash my hair at all, and the last time I had a decent shower was probably three weeks ago in a muddy tub somewhere in Iowa…EW!"_ She shuddered at the memory.

Seth just laughed. Sensitive as always, he said: _"Yeah, I figured… You do kinda stink."_

"_Shut up!" _she said in an offended tone, yet she was half laughing as she punched his arm.

Seth whined a little, rubbing his aching arm, then Summer went into the shower.

After Summer had taken a shower, applied the little makeup she still used, got dressed, and brushed her hair and teeth, there was nothing left to stall her anymore. Even though she'd tried to avoid the thought the entire time she'd spent with Seth, she had to go back to GEORGE and now only leaving remained on her day agenda. They'd decided to walk back to the bus, because it was parked such a short bit away that taking the car just seemed unnecessary (and Summer had a very definitive opinion about driving on gas if it wasn't absolutely a must).

The walk was way too short. There was so much both of them wanted to say, yet they walked mostly in silence. They didn't want to say goodbye again…

When they finally stopped in front of the bus, neither of them was ready for what was coming.

"_So here we are…," _Summer said, taking Seth's hands in her own. It was so unfair that they were saying goodbye again. 24 hours had been way too little to catch up on six months apart… There was so much she wished she'd asked him about school, his roommate, classes, his family, how Sophie was doing, how Ryan liked Berkeley, if Seth had missed her as much as she'd missed him… If only they'd had more time. It would be almost another six months before they saw each other again; she wasn't leaving GEORGE until the same week as her birthday in August… Then they would be moving in together, they'd get an apartment and they'd see each other all the time. At least they had something to look forward to.

"_Here we are…," _Seth agreed. There was a distant look in his eyes, and though he tried to smile bravely, she could see the sadness filling in his eyes.

She knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell him that she loved him so much that her body was practically aching, she wanted to tell him how much she'd missed him when she'd been gone, how much she would miss him, how hard it was to say goodbye again when it had almost broken her heart the last time… How she'd love him forever, and that she'd never let him go. She wanted to say all those things, but instead, as she met his eyes, what came out was: _"Look, um, Seth…I…-"_

But nodded because he understood. He felt the exact same way… There was so much he wanted to tell her…But how do you tell someone that she's the meaning of your life, that she's the sunshine, that you have and always will love her, and that you can't even picture a future without her in it. That every time she's not around, every time she leaves, you're left with a giant black void inside of you that only she can fill. How was telling her that supposed to make her leaving easier?

"_I love you," _he said at last. It was simple, yet it summed up perfectly the way he felt.

"_I love you too…," _she said smiling weakly, hoping that it came out a lot stronger than she felt. _"This isn't forever… It's just till this fall, and then we'll get an apartment and start the rest of our lives together."_

"_I know," _he said, trying to make the excitement of that prospect overshadow how sad he was that she had to leave. He failed. Why couldn't that day be today? he wondered. He tried to smile again, but this time it just looked plastered on there, so instead he said: _"I'll miss you…"_

She wanted to say something catchy, like how her mesmerizing beauty and amazing intelligence made it impossible for anyone not to miss her. But pretending that leaving him didn't break her heart into a million pieces just seemed pointless, so she admitted: _"I'll miss you too…"_

"_Summer, you coming?" _said a voice from the bus, belonging to a, for Seth, unfamiliar yet very clean and good-looking guy about his and Summer's age.

"_In a sec, Ted," _Summer called over her shoulder, not even once taking her attention away from Seth.

"_That's the type of guys that are with GEORGE? Seriously?" _Seth asked in disbelief, suddenly sounding a bit worried.

Summer just smiled. _"You have absolutely nothing to worry about Seth. Nothing." _And then she kissed him one final time; a kiss that contained all their hopes and promises for the future, a kiss that only lasted for a second, but that captivated all Seth's hints of doubts and tossed them to the ground.

Then it was time to leave. The moment had been long overdue and Summer knew that they were only waiting for her now, so, unwillingly, she at last let go of Seth's hands. Saying good-bye seemed so formal, and farewell was just…weird. _"See ya," _she said, smiling as she moved towards the buss.

Seth smiled too. There certainly was no one else like her. _"See ya,"_ he said waving.

Summer gave him a little wave, and then she got on the bus, the driver closing the doors and then putting the pedal to the metal after having waited impatiently for several minutes.

And Seth watched as the bus disappeared in the horizon, feeling an empty sense of sadness. He was alone again.

_The present…_

As the memory faded away, Seth was once again reminded that his time with Summer was limited. The moment when he'd been blissfully unaware of time and of all the musts they had, finally came to an end. She had to go, he knew that. She had to do her thing: getting to the airport so that she didn't miss her flight to Washington so that she would make her speech in front of the entire congress. The congress! His fiancé was making a speech in front of the most important people in the entire country. He knew she was amazing, intelligent, and totally committed to her job… But this was major. Seth was happy working for his paper and he thought the idea of him having a shot (if slim) at becoming chief-editor was terrifying (yet exciting of course), but he would've wet his pants had it been him who was holding a speech for the congress.

Naturally, he didn't tell Summer this. He told her that she'd be great, and the thing was, he really knew she was gonna be. He had complete faith in her, and knew that if she just got to the airport in time, she had nothing to worry about.

She was only going to be gone for a few days, yet Seth knew he was going to miss her; their breakfasts and TV watching, and everything else that signified their time together. It wasn't as if he wouldn't be busy, though. He of course, had work to do too. He was working his normal over-time hours for the paper. With only a month to go before the annunciation of the new editor-in-chief, everyone were working double shifts, Seth being no exception, probably working harder than anyone with his 80-100 hours of work per week. It was kinda stressing the hell out of him, but he knew it was only temporary. Soon, when the new editor had been announced, things would go back pretty much to the normal, unless they'd make him the new editor, but he very much doubted those rumors even though they'd been flying around the office a lot lately.

Sure, he worked hard, and he was liked by all his colleagues, including the current editor whom had almost immediately made Seth head over the Asian cinema part of the section. But he'd only been working professionally in the business for two years, and they were hardly going to make him editor-in-chief for that. Summer, however, was convinced that he had the position in the bag as she was constantly telling him, and Seth, against his better judgment, was still hanging on to the hope that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance for him to _at least _be made assistant editor. He wanted to be able to feel confident about it all, but there were too many talented writers at the paper that had worked for a longer period of time and therefore, at least in Seth's eyes, they were more desirable for the position.

But work just seemed too much of a depressing thought today, yet it was inescapable. It consumed so much time of their lives at the moment, too much, but Seth was convinced it was temporary. That's how they got by. One day they would get married (less than a year away), and maybe even start a family together somewhere down the line (though the thought remained terrifying for Seth), and things would settle down. This he was sure of. As sure of as he was that his future was with Summer; no matter what, he had never doubted that.

"_I have to get ready…," _Summer repeated, and this time Seth didn't object. He simply nodded, and didn't try to stop her as she got in the shower to start her familiar getting ready morning routine.

About two hours later, Seth had already parked the car at the airport parking lot, and all that was left was for Summer to go through security and get on the plane.

_Another good-bye…,_ Seth found himself thinking. It always seemed they were saying good-bye.

"_Thanks for driving me…," _Summer said.

"_Of course. I couldn't let you ride in a cab and have you be abducted like that girl last week, could I? It was on the CNN news. Did you hear that? Simply awful. Who knows what these crazy cab drivers are up to these days?"_

Summer smiled at this; being up to speed on what happened it the world these days, she knew perfectly well that there had been no such news report. However, she decided to let Seth's comment pass because she thought it sweet that he'd wanted to tell her good-bye. _"So… I know it's only for a couple of days… But I'm really gonna miss you."_

"_I know, I'm very miss-able," _Seth said confidently.

"_Okay, that I'm not going to miss," _Summer said. _"Or your whining, for that matter. But…um, I'll call you when I get there, and of course, when I have confirmed that I've made a total fool of myself at the meeting."_

"_You won't… So you'll have to call me to tell me that you rocked that meeting, okay?"_

"_Whatever," _Summer said with a roll of her eyes. However, midways an eye roll her eyes caught one of the clocks by the security. _"Oh my god! That's the time?! I have to go or I'll miss my flight!"_

She gave him a quick kiss, and waved as she jogged away in her heels to security, where Seth, no matter how badly he would've wanted, could not follow her. Instead, he was left staring at her back as she passed the metal detectors to finally disappear. And once again, he was left alone.

**Author's Note: **Okay, for such a long chapter, I think I deserve some reviews... Good or bad, just tell me! Thanks so much for reading!


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